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Candover Investments, the former parent of buyout group Candover Partners, faces a waiting game before it can return cash to investors, despite a successful restructuring which its chief executive said had left it in a "robust" position.

The UK-listed private equity group spun off its subsidiary buyout arm, Candover Partners, late last year and sold a “strip” of fund interests to secondaries specialist Pantheon Ventures for £60m. The spin-out was renamed Arle Capital Partners and continues to manage Candover's portfolio.

Candover said it has since sought to pay down net debt from the £91m it held at the end of 2010 to £26.7m, after taking account of recent realisations and disposals, which are set to complete this month. It has also reduced its outstanding fund commitments – the money it has promised to invest in funds but has yet to transfer – by £11.2m to £27.6m.

Malcolm Fallen, chief executive of Candover Investments, said: "No cash will be returned to shareholders until the company is in a net cash position [with cash exceeding loan notes, outstanding fund commitments and a small cash reserve to cover operating costs]."

Pressed to give a time frame for this process, a spokesman for the group said it was contingent on Arle selling businesses in its portfolio.

According to the company’s preliminary results, the group's net asset value per share has fallen by more than a fifth since the end of 2009, slipping from 1038p to 814p on December 31, 2010. However, the group said this reflected one-off costs and provisions for discontinued operations – including the sale of subsidiary Candover Partners and the strip of fund investments. Excluding these items, Fallen said the NAV would have been 1026p, only a 1.2% decrease from 31 December 2009.

The company said that seven of its 10 largest portfolio companies have been written up in value, while three have been written down. Oil services company Expro International Group and consulting group Alma were two to be written down, while gym equipment manufacturer Technogym was one to benefit from strong performance.

Fallen said: “Our objectives at the beginning of the year were to continue to deliver greater stability for the business whilst also exploring the options available to allow us to protect and grow value for our shareholders. This we have achieved having put in place a clear strategy aimed at delivering long-term equity value, based on a sustainable stable financial position.

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“Candover now has an appropriate operating model with a transparent and simplified balance sheet. This provides a solid base from which to deliver significant potential value in the underlying investments," he added.

Christopher Brown, an analyst at JP Morgan Cazenove, said: "These results are very complex, but the position in June will be much more straightforward, with a nicely cleaned up balance sheet. This is a quoted secondary that should benefit from good NAV growth and the unwinding of the current 24.4% discount over time."

Candover also revealed Richard Stone, currently a non-executive director at the group, will take over from outgoing chairman Gerry Grimstone. A replacement for Stone has yet to be appointed.